09 Jan Essential Steps For Starting Out In Programmatic

Think back to a time when you experienced something new. For example, do you remember the first time you ever saw the ocean?

Do you remember feeling excited and a little anxious thinking about what might be lurking in nearby waters? The daunting feeling of tackling the unknown is a constant theme not just in life but also when creating new marketing campaigns. And for many digital marketers, that feeling often comes up when the phrase “programmatic buying” appears.

The complicated vernacular, landscape and applications associated with programmatic advertising can seem intimidating when you are new to the process. Learn how to use Programmatic with six essential steps for starting out with programmatic advertising.

1. Define your target audience and refine as needed. Be specific when it comes to who you want to reach with your marketing efforts. Reaching users that behave similarly to your top converters is more important than appearing on name-brand websites.

Tip: Use data from past converters to identify the most profitable target audiences.

2. Create key performance indicators (KPIs) for each phase of the conversion funnel. The end goal of digital advertising is to drive business goals and see a strong return on investment. But not every stage of the conversion funnel is meant to focus solely on reaching those two goals. Make sure you are not taking a one-size-fits-all approach with your data visualization, and instead customize your KPIs to measure and identify success in each phase of the funnel.

Tip: The upper stages of the funnel should have the highest viewability and highest unique reach. Consider using viewability, unique reach, and lift, as KPIs for the highest stage of the conversion funnel.

3. Identify data sets for activation. Programmatic allows you to use the same data set across your entire media buy! You can use your own data (first-party) or identify common attributes of your target audience and buy against them.

Tip: Identity users real-life events and behaviors that take place before or during the shopping phase (i.e., buying a new home or relocating to a new city).

4. Select a management model. Map out the current state of your advertising and determine your strategic goals for programmatic buying. Do you want to have an in-house team carrying out real-time bidding (RTB)? Do you want to work in partnership with a programmatic agency or strategic vendor? Move towards your end goal with a step-by-step approach!

Tip: Talk to a non-competing brand or agency about different management models. You’ll gain clarity on which model is the best fit for your business both now and in the long run.

5. Utilize HTML5 creative assets. Users no longer consume content a single platform. Ensure all of your creative is built with HTML5 so that it can easily render on mobile, desktop, and over the top devices. HTML5 allows your creative message to reach your target audience wherever, whenever.

6. Establish Transparency. Determine what’s working and what’s not working and run other general campaign diagnostics by establishing reporting transparency. Make sure reporting transparency runs through data, media costs, vendor management fees, conversion reporting, and viewability.

Tip: Work with partners and vendors who provide logins and training for their programmatic advertising solutions.

DELVE Experts

Essential Steps For Starting Out In Programmatic

Think back to a time when you experienced something new. For example, do you remember…

Essential Steps For Starting Out In Programmatic

Think back to a time when you experienced something new. For example, do you remember the first time you ever saw the ocean?

Do you remember feeling excited and a little anxious thinking about what might be lurking in nearby waters? The daunting feeling of tackling the unknown is a constant theme not just in life but also when creating new marketing campaigns. And for many digital marketers, that feeling often comes up when the phrase “programmatic buying” appears.

The complicated vernacular, landscape and applications associated with programmatic advertising can seem intimidating when you are new to the process. Learn how to use Programmatic with six essential steps for starting out with programmatic advertising.

1. Define your target audience and refine as needed. Be specific when it comes to who you want to reach with your marketing efforts. Reaching users that behave similarly to your top converters is more important than appearing on name-brand websites.

Tip: Use data from past converters to identify the most profitable target audiences.

2. Create key performance indicators (KPIs) for each phase of the conversion funnel. The end goal of digital advertising is to drive business goals and see a strong return on investment. But not every stage of the conversion funnel is meant to focus solely on reaching those two goals. Make sure you are not taking a one-size-fits-all approach with your data visualization, and instead customize your KPIs to measure and identify success in each phase of the funnel.

Tip: The upper stages of the funnel should have the highest viewability and highest unique reach. Consider using viewability, unique reach, and lift, as KPIs for the highest stage of the conversion funnel.

3. Identify data sets for activation. Programmatic allows you to use the same data set across your entire media buy! You can use your own data (first-party) or identify common attributes of your target audience and buy against them.

Tip: Identity users real-life events and behaviors that take place before or during the shopping phase (i.e., buying a new home or relocating to a new city).

4. Select a management model. Map out the current state of your advertising and determine your strategic goals for programmatic buying. Do you want to have an in-house team carrying out real-time bidding (RTB)? Do you want to work in partnership with a programmatic agency or strategic vendor? Move towards your end goal with a step-by-step approach!

Tip: Talk to a non-competing brand or agency about different management models. You’ll gain clarity on which model is the best fit for your business both now and in the long run.

5. Utilize HTML5 creative assets. Users no longer consume content a single platform. Ensure all of your creative is built with HTML5 so that it can easily render on mobile, desktop, and over the top devices. HTML5 allows your creative message to reach your target audience wherever, whenever.

6. Establish Transparency. Determine what’s working and what’s not working and run other general campaign diagnostics by establishing reporting transparency. Make sure reporting transparency runs through data, media costs, vendor management fees, conversion reporting, and viewability.

Tip: Work with partners and vendors who provide logins and training for their programmatic advertising solutions.

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